Chelsea continues their charge in the Club World Cup with a clash against Palmeiras in the last eight of the tournament. The game could see Chelsea come up against the teenage Brazilian forward and future club signing Estevao, which will be an interesting storyline heading into the game.
South American sides have impressed so far in the tournament,t with Flamengo fighting well with Bayern Munich in a 4-2 loss in the last round, and Fluminense knocking out Inter Milan with a 2-0 victory. Flamengo also beat the Blues 3-0 in their second game so Maresca will know to be cautious going into the game where they are considered to be favourites.
“We always respect Brazilian football. We don’t need this tournament to respect Brazilian football,’ explained our head coach, speaking to the media ahead of tomorrow’s meeting with Palmeiras.
“Me, personally, I always respect Brazilian football because it’s one of, if not the, best countries in the world in terms of quality of football, so I didn’t need this competition to show that. They have shown in each game of this competition how good they are, and that will continue after this competition.
“For me, it’s not a surprise because I really admire Brazilian football, because I love players with quality, and they are full of players with quality. That’s why I am not surprised about their football.”
Maresca believes he and his players have learned from the Flamengo defeat, revealing that he will respect Palmeiras heading into the game which is sure to be a heated clash in in Philadelphia at 2am on Saturday morning.
“For sure we try to learn, not just against Flamengo but after every game we play,” he added. “Against Benfica, we did some things good and we could do some other things better.
“The Flamengo game is the only time during this season we played in a new structure, because we are also thinking about different solutions and thinking about the future.
"Flamengo are a very good team in the same way Palmeiras are a very good team, and Fluminense are doing well.
“I really respect Palmeiras because you can see the way they are organised, the way they want to press, the way they are aggressive, the way they allow you to go one side and be very aggressive, ready for transition.
“They have quality players. Estevao is one of them, (Richard) Rios is another of them. The best thing is you can see the identity that they have.’